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Bring on the Big Boys

Who would you like to see Auburn play non-conference? I asked on Twitter and the responses showed that Auburn fans (especially die hard Auburn baseball fans) are clamoring for big non-conference match-ups. Now, My suggestion/dream would be for Auburn to resume a series with Georgia Tech midweek. Playing in Auburn, in Atlanta (at GT's on campus Russ Chandler), and a final game either in Gwinett or at Turner Field.

I would love to see us play someone like Miami or maybe Texas. Big traditional powers to try to raise our profile.

D. Miller also brings up a unique opportunity for Auburn. Playing in MLBStadiums:

How about Maryland at Camden Yard?....What about Boston College with a Sunday finale at Fenway?

That could happen. For Every MLB club, there is an NCAA Team (and in most cases NCAA power) close by:

MLB Team

College Team(s)

Tampa Bay

South Florida

NY Yankees

St. John's

Boston

Boston College, Harvard, Northeastern, Boston University

Toronto

U Buffalo?

Baltimore

Maryland, Navy

Minnesota

U Minnesota

Chicago White Sox

Notre Dame

Detroit

Michigan? Michigan State?

Cleveland

Ohio State? Akron

Kansas City

K-State?, Kansas?

Texas

TCU, SMU, Dallas Baptist

Oakland

Cal/ Stanford

LA Angels

Fullerton

Seattle

Washington

Philadelphia

Temple, Penn, Villanova, LaSalle, St. Joe's

Atlanta

Georgia Tech, Georgia State

Florida

Miami, Florida International

New York Mets

St. John's, Hofstra

Washington

Georgetown, George Washington

Cincinnati

Cincinnati Bearcats

St. Louis

U St. Louis, Mizzou?

Milwaukee

UW-Milwaukee

Houston

Rice, Houston

Chicago Cubs

Northwestern

Pittsburgh

Pitt

San Francisco

Cal/Stanford?

San Diego

USD, SDSU

Colorado

Air Force?

Los Angeles

UCLA, USC

Arizona

Arizona State

Now some of these aren't exactly feasible. There's no real point RPI or travel-wise to play the likes of UW-Milwaukee in Wisconsin. The best thing would be for Auburn to become a part of the Dodgertown Classic (like UGA did) or the Houston College Classic or even the Cal Baseball Classic in San Francisco. For Auburn, the struggle would be two-fold: you need a strong enough schedule RPI wise and justification for playing a road series. It's not often that Auburn leaves the comfy confines of Plainsman Park (or the state of Alabama) for a non-conference game. In fact since 1991, Auburn has only played a handful of Weekend Road Series outside the state of Alabama. Sometimes, the farthest south that the team will travel is just down to Mobile (and the Coca Cola Classic). See for yourself:

Also, over the past 20 years, Auburn hasn't exactly brought a dearth of competition to the ball park. Here are the non-conference games against Major Conference opponents over the past 20 years. Most of these opponents came from Weekend Tournaments:

Year

Opponents

91

Clemson, Michigna

92

Clemson, Oklahoma, Tulane

93

GT, Pepperdine, Clemson, Michigan

94

Tulane

95

Louisville, Ohio State, Penn State

96

Missouri, Michigan State, Indiana

97

None

98

USF, Clemson, FAU

99

GT, UVA, UMD, Minnesota, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Northwestern

00

Tulane

01

Minnesota, North Carolina, GT

02

Clemson UNC GT

03

UVA, Clemson, UNC, GT

04

BC, GT, Clemson

05

FSU, Clemson, GT

06

FSU, Arizona State

07

Michigan State, AZ St, Purdue

08

FSU

09

FSU

10

BC, Missouri, FAU, AZ St

I haven't seen the schedule for 2012. However, knowing that Coach Pawlowski likes to keep the Auburn tournament (which would bring in at least 1 big name) and also likes to schedule good RPI competition, I have a nice glimmer of hope that the Big Boys will soon be meeting Auburn once again.